Doctrine of the four kingdoms
The doctrine of the four kingdoms describes a primarily medieval Christian interpretation of two allegories from the book of Daniel of the Bible , namely from its chapters 2 EU and 7 EU . There Daniel interprets a dream of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II about the future or has a vision himself, the meaning of which is revealed to him.
King's dream and interpretation of Daniel
Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a large statue, the head of fine gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and loin of bronze, the thighs of iron and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay. This image was then crushed by a stone that came off. The crushed image had been blown away in the wind; on the other hand, the stone that had crushed the picture had become a great mountain that filled the whole earth.
Daniel, to whom God revealed the meaning in a dream, interprets his dream to the king: According to this, the head made of gold stands for king Nebuchadnezzar. After him there will be another, lesser kingdom and then a third bronze kingdom that will rule over the whole earth. A fourth kingdom will be strong as iron. The feet, partly made of iron and partly of clay, represent a divided kingdom, which will be partly solid and strong like iron, partly fragile like clay. Iron and clay also stand for marriages that don't last any more than iron and clay can be mixed. The crushing stone stands for the fact that in the time of these kings God will set up a kingdom that will stand against all kingdoms and for ever.
Daniel's dream and its meaning
Daniel also had a dream: he saw four different animals come out of the sea. The first was like a lion and had eagle wings. However, its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the earth and stood on its feet like a human being; also a man's heart was given to him. The second animal was like a bear, erect on one side and with three ribs between its teeth. The next animal was like a leopard, with four heads and four bird wings on its back. The fourth beast was strong, with large iron teeth, bronze claws, and ten horns. It ate and crushed and trampled the rest with its feet. Then another horn rose up between the ten horns, with eyes on it and a mouth which spoke presumptuous words, and three of the first horns were torn off. The horn waged war against the saints and defeated them. Then thrones were set up, and on a throne of fiery flames sat one who was old and wore a white robe and was served by many. After the judgment of the saints of the Most High was settled, the fourth beast was killed and its body destroyed; the dominion of the rest of the animals was also taken away. After that, an eternal kingship was established, which everyone served.
The meaning of the dreamed was revealed to Daniel in his dream. Accordingly, the great beasts stand for four kings who will rise from the earth. The fourth kingdom will be different from all previous ones and will eat up and crush the whole earth. Its ten horns represent ten kings who will arise from this kingdom. After them another king will rise who will humiliate three of the previous kings. This king will speak against the Most High, persecute the saints and try to change the feast days. But rulership will be taken from him and the saints of the Most High will receive kingship for the eternal kingdom.
Interpretations and further development
In the following time, attempts were made to connect these pre-Christian kingdoms prophesied with specific rulers. On the basis of the biblical statements, the first kingdom could still be identified with the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar without a doubt ; the following empires were originally interpreted as the Medes , the Persians, and the Alexander . In late antiquity, however, the church father Jerome took a different interpretation, identifying the four kingdoms with the Babylonian, Persian, Alexander and Roman empires . The Roman Empire also fulfills Daniel's description that the fourth Empire would be a divided kingdom: in fact, the Roman Empire was ruled by two emperors from 395 AD and was thus informally divided into the Western Roman and Eastern Roman Empire . This interpretation, the doctrine of the four kingdoms, was able to prevail and was part of Christian teaching in the Middle Ages.
De civitate Dei
The Roman Empire had been Christianized before it was divided. In the course of time this Christianized kingdom was understood as the announced kingdom of God . This interpretation was questioned when, as a result of the migration of peoples triggered by the Huns storm, the Visigoths and later other Germanic tribes penetrated the Western Roman Empire and took the capital of Rome.
The bishop of Hippo, Augustine , responded to this with his work De civitate Dei (“On the God-State”), in which he tried to resolve the contradiction by depicting the God-State as opposed to the earthly state.
Translatio imperii
The medieval theory of the translatio imperii (transfer of rule) ties in with the doctrine of the four kingdoms . With it the transition of Roman rule to the rulers of the Frankish and Holy Roman Empire was established.
More prophecies
In the Bible there is next to the prophecies in the book of Daniel in Rev 20 EU the announcement of a coming millennial reign of God (“millennial kingdom”).
Web links
- Jerome, Comment. in Danielem, I, II, 31–35 (CC 75A, 1964) pp. 794, 387–795, 414 (Latin) on the website of the University of Tübingen: Gerhard Schmitz: The Investiture Controversy : Texts on the understanding of time and history of the Middle Ages ; Entry from June 24, 2005
Individual evidence
- ^ Henning Börm : Westrom. From Honorius to Justinian. 2nd edition, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-17-033217-1 , pp. 42–43.